Christmas Day 2022
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Introduction
Merry Christmas All Saints! Merry Christmas! Our preparation is over and the celebration is underway!
Now with that in mind, as we return to the manger this morning to continue our celebration of Christ’s birth, I want us to look at the notion of salvation as re-creation. That is, I want us to notice how the salvation that Scripture proclaims is as extensive and comprehensive as God’s work of original creation.
Not only that, I want us to notice the way that John’s Gospel uses this idea of re-creation to frame the entire account of Christmas.
As we do so, it is my hope that your celebration of Christmas this year will reverberate with the power, majesty, and grandeur of the salvation that God given you in His Son.
A] Notice at once that in our Gospel reading this morning John uses the original creation account found in Genesis to provide the backdrop for the entire account of salvation. Compare:
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
Importance: for John, the Gospel is literally the second Genesis. It is God’s work of re-creation. In other words, it is the Elohim (God) of creation coming to redeem and reclaim all that He made.
B] Not only that, notice for John, Christmas and the birth of Jesus represent the first day of God’s work on the new creation. Compare:
Genesis 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light“; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (lit: overtake/overcome it). 9 There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
Bottom line: for John, Christmas (the birth of Jesus) is the first day, the first step in God’s amazing work of re-creation.
C] However, please note: in Genesis, creation was not completed on the first day. It was not finished until the six day.
Genesis 1:31 And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their hosts.
Fast-forward then to the end of John’s Gospel. There we find Jesus, the God of re-creation hanging from the Cross on Good Friday (the 6th day of the week) declaring the work of re-creation finished just as God had done on the 6th day of the original creation
John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit.
D] Notice what happens next: in Genesis God rested from the work of Creation on the seventh day. In the Gospel on the seventh day (that is on Holy Saturday, the Sabbath) Jesus’ body rested in the grave from all His work.
Luke 23:55 Now the women who had come with Jesus out of Galilee followed after, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. 56 And they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. (Jn 19:38-42)
Finally, on Sunday (the first day of the new week) Jesus rises from the dead. The resurrection then marks the first dawn, the first day, of the new creation
Matthew 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.
Notice then the point: according to Scripture, Salvation is literally (not figuratively) the work of re-creation. And this work of re-creation is as extensive and all-encompassing as God’s work of original creation.
2 Peter 3:13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
Christmas then is not about the quaint depictions found on greeting cards. Rather, it is the primordial, unfathomable power of God that hung the stars at work again. It is the God of Genesis coming to reclaim and redeem the whole of His creation.
And it is this work of re-creation, begun in the manger, completed on the Cross, and one day to be ours in full, that is already at work in you and for you. It is this Savior and this salvation that we come and celebrate this morning.
Finally, one last thing: some time tonight, I invite you to stop and take a look up at the night sky, the same night sky that shown over that O so Holy Night, and then contemplate the vastness of the love and the power that has come to save you.